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2nd expedition on QingHai-tibet plateau

CNC

Added On June 19, 2017

China has begun its second scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to study changes in climate, biodiversity and environment over the past decades.

The second expedition will last five to 10 years and the first stop will be Serling Tso, a 2,391-square-kilometer lake that was confirmed to have replaced the Buddhist holy lake Namtso as Tibet's largest in 2014.

In the coming month, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will take more than 100 scientists to the lake area and the origin of the Yangtze River.

They will be divided into four groups and make a comprehensive survey of the plateau glaciers, climate change, biodiversity and ecological changes.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) YAO TANDONG, Chinese Academy of Sciences

"The aim of the second expedition is quite different from the first one in 1970s. This time's expedition is to comprehensively study the characteristics and climate on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau through the changes that had taken place since the first one."

Yao said great changes have taken place in the plateau's resources and environment,

And they need further research to find out ways to cope with these changes.

China's first comprehensive scientific expedition to the Tibet plateau began in the 1970s and covered more than 50 disciplines including geologic structure, prehistoric life, geophysics, climate, zoology and botany.

The new round of research will focus on changes and a national park might be set up in Serling Tso.

The expedition will also take scientists to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and a pass linking to south Asia.